Algeria hostage siege comes to deadly end

At least 30 hostages and 11 members of an al-Qaeda-affiliated group were killed when Algerian forces stormed a desert gas plant to free the captives, Reuters news agency has quoted an Algerian security source as saying.

Eight Algerians and seven foreigners, including two British, two Japanese and a French national, were among the dead, the source said.

Algerian state television reported earlier that four foreigners had been killed after the end of the operation was announced late on Thursday.

Communication Minister Mohamed Said said troops had been forced to act after talks with the kidnappers failed.

1. I'm surprised at the lack of interest in this here.

This is really big. It involves BP who were operating the gas plant. Americans and Brits have been killed and it's part of a problem brewing in Mali involving French forces on the ground and military help from us. It could erupt in a whole new war.

10. I am still amazed that no one here

commented on how our drone attacks were being covered up by the Yemeni government.

Had it been under bush we would have had a ton of threads on this:

Yemeni Government Covers Up U.S. Responsibility for Civilian Drone Deaths
Yemeni Government Covers Up U.S. Responsibility for Civilian Drone Deaths

The government of Yemen has tried to claim responsibility for numerous airstrikes by American drones in an effort to keep its population from siding with al-Qaeda militants.

Of the nearly 40 attacks launched by U.S. unmanned aircraft in the Middle Eastern country, one in particular has stirred considerable controversy and antipathy towards Washington.

On September 2, an American missile destroyed a Toyota truck loaded with 14 Yemenis from a village near Radda. The attack killed 11, including a woman and two children.

The Yemeni government tried to claim that its own air force carried out the assault, and that those killed were al-Qaeda militants. Many locals refused to accept the official explanation, and eventually Yemeni officials were forced to acknowledge that the strike killed only civilians.

Following a 2009 U.S. drone strike on the southern region of al-Majala, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians, Yemen’s then-leader Ali Abdullah Saleh told then-U.S. Central Command chief Gen. David H. Petraeus, “We’ll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours.” The assurance was made in a U.S. Embassy email, which was later disclosed by WikiLeaks.
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